John Lennon. A man known worldwide as an icon, a musician, a poet, the voice of a generation, and one of the most influential figures in rock ’n’ roll history.
Like all great musicians, the guitars Lennon chose to play often seemed to reflect—even underscore—his ideas, beliefs, and lifestyle.
No one can forget the eternal images of Lennon with his Gibson J-160E during the height of Beatlemania, or playing his Epiphone Casino on the rooftop of the Beatles’ Apple headquarters in London. But perhaps the most rebellious and raucous image of them all comes during the tumultuous times of Watergate and Vietnam: Lennon playing his modified Gibson Les Paul Junior at the famous 1972 concert in Madison Square Garden.
Icon, musician, poet, hero. John Lennon continues to inspire. Gibson honors him by including his amazing guitar in the Gibson Custom Shop Inspired By series.
Backstory
John Lennon was always a fan of Charlie Christian, and he also enjoyed tinkering with his guitars. So when he met New York luthier and guitar repairman Ron DeMarino in the early 70’s, he asked him to take his 1950’s Tobacco Sunburst Les Paul Junior and add the pickup made famous by the jazz legend.
“We put it in the neck position,” says DeMarino. “Installing the pickup involved extensive routing and major modification to the back of the guitar. We left the Gibson P-90 pickup in the guitar and added a toggle switch wired for pickup selection. When I got the guitar back to John he liked the way it sounded.”
Later, at Lennon’s request, he sanded off the sunburst finish and added the Tune-O-Matic bridge and stop tailpiece. On August 30, 1972, Lennon used his customized Les Paul in its new raw wood state during his famous benefit concert at New York’s Madison Square Garden. Today, the guitar is on permanent display at the John Lennon Museum in Japan.
Technical Info
Body & Hardware
Solid mahogany body
Aged chrome hardware
Lightweight aluminum tailpiece
Two thumb wheels on treble side of bridge, one on bass
Wraparound holes plugged & ABR-1 added; stopbar moved back
3-way Switchcraft switch added to normal Les Paul positioning
Neck and Headstock
1-piece mahogany neck with long neck tenon
22 fret rosewood fingerboard
Pearloid dot inlays
Early ’50’s rounded neck profile
24-3/4 in. scale length, 1-11/16 in. nut width
Schaller tuners
Electronics and Strings
P-90 single coil pickup m bridge position & Charlie Christian pickup in neck position
Pickguard modified for Charlie Christian pickup
1 volume, 1 tone control
Vintage Reissue .010 strings
Includes Custom Shop case, certificate of authenticity, custom care kit &
signed Lennon print by famed artist Allison Lefcort
Serialized LENNON 001-300
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